I am carb cycling, gluten-freeing, and learning to THRIVE especially while dodging fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Losing weight is tough work for anyone but for a chronic babe like me it really is a matter of WEIGHING HEALTHY choices and finding what works for my body.

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Can I Just Say I LOVE Carb Cycling? CI#14

I do. I really do love the carb cycling program Chris Powell uses. In all my years of weight loss, it is the only thing I have found to keep my metabolism humming. It has been one of my missing links all along.

I have been in the “not all carbs are bad” camp for years so I was never really a carb counter but finding carb cycling was heaven-sent. As I started this latest weight loss journey, I was coming to the realization some carbs are bad for me. Carb cycling help me isolate gluten sensitivity as I naturally began eliminating foods which did not pack a nutritional wallop and for me breads were one of the first foods to go. I am not sure I would have been able to figure it out without the on-again, off-again relationship with carbs.

That potato with a little bit of real butter, some coarse ground pepper, and pink salt…*drool*

To have a plan that works-in those good-for-you-carbs like yum-a-licious potatoes is really wonderful. I never feel deprived or restricted which means I rarely fall off my plan. It’s a win all the way around. It has also taught me to savor foods because with carb cycling there is less chance of falling in a food rut. Although, I do admit the slingshot week is tough but the proof is in the pudding…errr, potato…because the constant variation of food and calories has prevented me from plateauing and because of that I will never do anything else.

Then once every three weeks, or whenever weight loss slows, Chris says to use the slingshot week–seven high carb days in a row–mentioned yesterday to boost your metabolic fires. It gives those carbs which can get a bad rap a new purpose. After years of restrictive dieting, it is actually refreshing to retrain myself to say, “There is a time and place in my plan for carbs, including potatoes.”

On this slingshot week, potatoes have a staring role in my diet. I savor them.

They are the easiest, most budget-friendly way for me to add what Chris calls “smart carbs,” carbs with high nutritional value, back into my food plan. For the bad rap they have, they are actually nutritional powerhouses.

That 6.7 ounce potato including the skin contains:

Nutrition Facts from Fitday.com

Amount Per Serving

Calories

176.6

Calories from Fat

2.1

Fat

0.25

g

0

%

Saturated Fat

0.066

g

0

%

Polyunsaturated Fat

0.11

g

Monounsaturated Fat

0.0057

g

Cholesterol

0.0

mg

0

%

Sodium

19.0

mg

1

%

Potassium

1,016.2

mg

29

%

Carbohydrate

40.2

g

13

%

Dietary Fiber

4.2

g

17

%

Protein

4.7

g

9

%

Alcohol

0.0

g

Vitamin A

0

%

Calcium

3

%

Vitamin D

0

%

Thiamin

8

%

Niacin

13

%

Vitamin B6

30

%

Phosphorus

13

%

Selenium

1

%

Vitamin C

30

%

Iron

11

%

Vitamin E

0

%

Riboflavin

5

%

Vitamin B12

0

%

Manganese

21

%

Copper

11

%

Magnesium

13

%

Zinc

5

%

Look at all that good stuff!! What’s not to love!

To go with the glorious potato we had ultra-lean Swiss steak and steamed broccoli. It was a perfect dinner.